WASHINGTON -- A lawyer for the Lawrence County 14-year-old whose life-without-parole sentence was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court today said his client will now get another sentencing hearing.

"This is an important win for children.
The Court took a significant step forward by recognizing the fundamental
unfairness of mandatory death-in-prison sentences that don't allow sentencers
to consider the unique status of children and their potential for change,"
said Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. "The Court has recognized that children
need additional attention and protection in the criminal justice system."

Stevenson said the 5-4 opinion from the court bans mandatory life-without-parole sentences for those 17 and under at the time of the crime. The ruling allows judges to take mitigating circumstances of the child's life and crime into account before sentencing.

But the opinion, written by Justice Elena Kagan, said it expected future life-without-parole sentences for juveniles to be rare.

"But given all we have said (in previous cases) and this decision about children's diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change, we think appropriate occasions for sentencing juveniles to this harshest possible penalty will be uncommon," according to the opinion.